Joseph Peragine's
entertaining and confounding new paintings take the sport of wrestling
to a new level, as his grappling protagonists morph into the shape
of mandalas, in the struggle for self-reunification.

For his first exhibition at Marcia Wood Gallery, the popular Atlanta
based artist Joseph Peragine, will present new paintings, drawings
and an animation, in the exhibition entitled “Grappling
Mandala”. Continuing his practice of exploring questions
of strength and vulnerability, power and impotence, through series
with varying subjects - from rabbits, to tanks, to detective
novel illustrations, to ants - Peragine’s current vehicle
is the sport of wrestling. The wrestling figures are turned in
on themselves in mandala-like perfect symmetry, creating compositions
that are simultaneously meditative, provocative and comical.

Joseph Peragine's work has been presented in galleries, contemporary
art spaces, and museums throughout the country and internationally.
The scope of Peragine's multi-disciplinary practice encompasses
public art projects and commissions, including exhibitions at Art
in General in New York City, Islip Museum of Art, West Islip, NY,
Sunken Garden Park, Atlanta, and the permanent installation for
the Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, Atlanta, for which
he was also awarded an Atlanta Urban Design Commission Award of
Excellence for Public Art, as well as being noted one of the best
public art projects in 2001 in Art in America. In 2001 Peragine
was invited to exhibit his work and participate in an international
symposium on art and science in Beijing, China, hosted by Tsing
Hua University and the National Museum of Fine Art of China. Peragine's
animations have been exhibited at the Palm Beach ICA, Florida,
the Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, TN, MOCA GA, Atlanta, GA,
DiverseWorks, Houston, TX and the Arizona State University Art
Museum Short Film and Video Festival, among others. His paintings,
drawings and sculpture have been exhibited in galleries including
Solomon Projects, Atlanta, Atlelie397, Sao Paulo, Brazil, David
J. Spencer Museum at the CDC, Atlanta, Agnes Scott College, Dalton
Gallery, Decautur, GA, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Florida
Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland,
FL, the UA Museum of Art, and Kress Gallery, Tucson, AZ, and the
Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA.

Peragine was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1961. He completed
his undergraduate work in fine art at the University of Georgia,
Athens, and in 1995 received his MFA in painting from Georgia State
University, Atlanta, where he is currently an Associate Professor
in Drawing, Painting and Printmaking. He recently completed a prestigious
five year studio residency at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.